The 2016 election marks a turning around of U.S. energy policy back toward true "all of the above," with a focus first on using domestic oil, natural gas, and coal resources -- and other energy sources -- to keep the price of energy low, helping consumers and attracting business development. Exploiting domestic resources also creates jobs -- which the American people have demanded.

By Larry Bell|2016-11-14T17:05:19-04:00November 14th, 2016|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on American energy finally wins its independence

The election of Donald Trump provides an excellent opportunity to rein in the EPA and other federal regulatory agencies that have joyfully far exceeded their constitutional and statutory mandates and done more to stifle the growth of the U.S. economy than any other arm of government. Cleaning house at the EPA, according to CFACT Senior Policy Analyst Paul Driessen, will by itself do much to jumpstart the U.S. economy.

CFACT energy policy advisor Marita Noon reports that, having failed to destroy U.S. oil and gas producers via increasing its own oil production, has now signed an OPEC agreement to cut back production -- largely because the artifically low price of oil was hurting producers worldwide.

By Marita Noon|2016-10-10T13:38:06-04:00October 10th, 2016|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on OPEC agrees to a production decrease, prices increase—but could be just right

While the anti-fracking (well, the anti-fossil-fuel) crowd snarkily sought to blame hydraulic fracturing for the recent Oklahoma earthquake, the truth is that wastewater injection wells are the much more likely culprit -- not fracking.

CFACT Senior Policy Advisor Paul Driessen, noting that both major party candidates for President support local control over fracking, suggests that local control should also extend to wind farms, solar arrays, forest management, and other issues that today are rigged in favor of those who shut down or redirect development by fiat.

Climate alarmists cannot separate human influences from natural causes for any recent changes. They do not know how much Earth will warm by 2100. They cannot say at what point further warming will be “dangerous” – or for which plant, wildlife, or human populations. They admit that slashing America’s fossil fuel use will reduce global warming by only a few hundredths of one degree (assuming CO2 drives climate change), especially if most countries continue burning coal, oil and natural gas.

According to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, new Obama Interior Department regulations will bring about a 70% decline in energy exploration over the next 20 years and a loss of up to 190,000 jobs. The egghead rules will also likely jeopardize safety at drilling sites, both because rock formations cannot handle the volume of fluids required by the rule and because shifting the primary monitoring responsibility from on-site engineers to onshore electronic observers will delay the discovery of problems and lengthen response times.

All of us loved paying less than $2 a gallon at the pump. The AAA reports: “Americans paid cheapest quarterly gas prices in 12 years”—which resulted in savings of nearly $10 billion compared to the same period last year. However, oil (and, therefore gasoline) has been creeping upward since the February low—topping $45 a barrel, a high for the year. And that could be a good thing. While low prices at the pump have been a boon to consumers, the plunge in oil prices has been a bust for American producers. Throughout the past 20 months, crude oil prices have dropped [...]

By Marita Noon|2016-05-03T03:35:29-04:00May 3rd, 2016|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on What’s up with prices at the pump and why it could be a good sign

Now the President Obama has made good on his promise to bankrupt the U.S. coal industry, he (and his potential successors Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders) are poised to do likewise to the nation's oil and gas and nuclear power industries. Given that neither solar nor wind power is 24-7 reliable, this will surely lead both to massive financial ruin and intermittent energy availability in many parts of a very crippled U.S. economy. Worst of all -- this appears to be their vision, their goal -- to bankrupt America and put an end to personal freedom in the process.

By Larry Bell|2016-04-25T13:43:44-04:00April 25th, 2016|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on Obama targets electric grid for power grab

Researchers have found that some buyers are willing to pay for environmentally friendly products because those products are “status symbols.” A report in The Atlantic states: “Environmentally friendly behaviors typically go unseen; there's no public glory in shortened showers or diligent recycling. But when people can use their behavior to broadcast their own goodness, their incentives shift. The people who buy Priuses and solar panels still probably care about the environment—it’s just that researchers have found that a portion of their motivation might come from a place of self-promotion, much like community service does good and fits on a résumé.” With [...]

There is no shortage of news stories touting the splits within each party. The Democrat divide is, as NBC News sees it, between dreamers and doers—with the International Business Times (IBT) calling it: “a civil war over the party’s ideological future.” The Boston Globe declares that the “party fissures” represent “a national party torn between Clinton’s promised steady hand and Sanders’ more progressive goals.” The Republican reality is, according to IBT, a battle between moderates and conservatives. The party is being “shattered” by the fighting between the establishment and the outsiders. The New Yorker said the days following the Detroit debate have “been the week of open civil war within the Republican Party.” Former standard-bearer Mitt [...]

The latest anti-fossil missile rolled out for launch in President Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget would add a $10 federal “fee” to the price of every barrel of domestic oil at a time when competing and hostile nations are hell-bent to drive struggling American producers out of business. Included are the Saudis, OPEC, Russia, and Iran, along with North Korea as an arms trade beneficiary. The new tax would add about 24 cents per gallon to the price of gasoline which will be bad for consumers, for businesses, and for local, state, and national economies. The revenue would be used to further [...]

By Larry Bell|2016-03-01T20:27:25-04:00March 1st, 2016|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on Obama’s war on oil strengthens our enemies